Monday, September 22, 2008

Ah, it feels soooo good to wash all the sweat off of my body. To be clean, cool, refreshed.

Lately I've been using products from SpaMafia to lather, scrub and moisturize my skin after a tough workout. Behind the clever name and the Sopranos-style branding, there are some great products in this very affordable and (mostly) natural, paraben-free and organic bath and body line.

Owners Rachel(aka Sophiathe Saltress!) and Estelle (the Exterminator!)created this grass-roots company in San Francisco and then infused the marketing with a sense of humor to distinguish themselves from their competitors and get people asking, "What's all the racketeering about?" The concept is cute, but the products speak for themselves:

2. Organic Apple and Oat Shower Gel - 70% Certified Organic ingredients, paraben-free and no added color in a hydrating gel infused with glyercin, shea butter and panthenol. Comes in six great scents: Apple-licious, Brandied Pear, Cucumber Melon, Organic Lavender, Pink Martini and Pomegranate. A little goes a long way with this stuff--it really works up a lather!

3. All Natural Peppermint/Tea Tree Lotion - Combine the cooling power of peppermint and eucalyptus with the anti-bacterial properties of tea tree oil in a lotion loaded with heavy-duty moisturizers like safflower and jojoba oil and you've got a recipe for relief from hot, tired skin. It's paraben-free as well!

4. Organic Spa Lotion with Olive Oil and Grapeseed - This can be custom scented, or unscented if you prefer. What it has: 70% Certified Organic ingredients and loads of anti-oxidants. What it doesn't have: parabens, dyes, animal or petroleum ingredients. I love using this on my face--it's great for sensitive skin!

5. All Natural Glycerine Soaps - These 100% Vegetable Based soap bars make it easy to shave your legs in the shower. The bars come in scents like Pink Martini, Pomegranate, Warm Vanilla--and qualify for free shipping if you order them! I loved the Pink Martini scent. It not only made ME smell good, it made my whole bathroom smell good!

6. Organic Oatmeal Complexion Bar - Made with 20% Oat flour and 37% Certified Organic ingredients, this bar is an effective, but gentle, way to cleanse your skin.

SpaMafia also makes body butters, bath salts and gift baskets--products for men and for dogs (which may or may not be redundant...) and for kids as well. SpaMafia may be full of softening and sweet-smelling products, but I'm sure Estelle and Sophia would insist that they're tough on grime!

Thanks for your feedback. :-) As you will notice on our site our tagline on our store homepage is "mostly paraben free, mostly organic and totally affordable". We want people to know what is in each of our products, which is why we post the ingrediants! We definately try to find products that are paraben fee and/or organic. Mostly we do! Occassionally we find products people love that do not fit that criteria.Ironically even though some people are aware of this, they still want them! Although we limit the number of those, we do make sure we have an informed the consumer by noting our ingrediants online next to each product. We also currently are working with the manufacturer to see how they can try to replace the DMDM with something natural! We at SpaMafia thank you for your comments,and always welcome any comments or suggestions anyone might have. Feel free to contact me at sophia@spamafia with any other questions you might have and have a great day!